


More Than Equivalence

by xama



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Crack, Gen, Happy Ending, happier than canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 19:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21104846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xama/pseuds/xama
Summary: “You’ve defeated me!” Truth yelled as Edward turned around and slammed his hands onto his Gate. “Take whatever you want!”A literal interpretation of Truth's words.





	More Than Equivalence

“This is MY Gate of Truth.” Edward Elric said, “Which means I can do anything I want with it.” He then smiled, a big open-mouthed grin, “Am I wrong?” He wasn’t, Truth knew, Edward had grown in leaps and bounds since the first time he’d opened his Gate - even since the last time he’d been here, talked to Truth face-to-faceless. The lack of angry shouting, no attempts at negotiating, Edward knew the truth, the real truth now - but Truth would make Edward say it out loud.

Truth laughed, and slapped their hand to their head. “So that was your plan. But are you sure about that?” Edward swallowed, surprised, and Truth continued. “If you lose your Gate of Truth, you’ll never be able to use alchemy again.”

“Yeah.” Edward said, looking behind his shoulder at the Gate, “You’re right, all of alchemy is on the other side of this gate. But thanks to it I was manipulated. I saw the Truth, and believed that I could solve everything with alchemy.”

But he was wrong. “But I was wrong.” Edward continued. Truth was proud. “I was just being arrogant.” Edward finished.

“You’re going to become an ordinary human who can’t use alchemy?” Truth asked, eternal smile on their face.

Edward, still looking at his Gate, replied, “I’ve always been an ‘ordinary human’, I won’t ‘become’ anything.” His eyes glazed for a moment, “I’m a puny human who couldn’t even save a little girl, even with all my alchemical knowledge.”

“So you’re sure you don’t mind getting rid of your alchemy, years of hard work and study?” Truth asked.

Edward stood silent for a moment, lost in thought - and then he grinned, and turned to fully face Truth. “Even if I lose alchemy, I’ll still have my friends!”

Truth, who always had a grin on their face, smiled a real, happy smile, for the first time in a long time. “Correct, alchemist!” They shouted.

Edward grinned and clapped his hands.

“You’ve defeated me!” Truth yelled as Edward turned around and slammed his hands onto his Gate. “Take whatever you want!” Truth shouted, and as they and the Gate disappeared, they pointed behind them. “The back door is over that way, Edward Elric.” Truth finished, vanishing fully, finally satisfied.

* * *

Ed was slightly surprised by Truth’s disappearance - but he quickly forgot about it when he saw who sat behind Truth. As Ed walked towards him, Al slowly stood, and they clasped hands. “You were so reckless!” Ed said, scolding Al, but not harshly.

Al smiled, “You’re one to talk, brother!” He said. Ed was so happy that Al had hands, real hands - Ed feel the warmth they exuded that told him his reckless, idiot, genius little brother was still alive, and was finally whole.

The Gate behind Al opened up, and Ed turned to Al, “Okay. Let’s go back.”

Al nodded, “Right!” And slowly, with Al leaning heavily on Ed, they walked through the Gate.

* * *

“ED!” Hohenheim shouted, seeing the flash of light that meant his son - sons, Hohenheim knew - were back.

“FULLMETAL!” Roy screamed, and then screamed again wordlessly, hands covering his eyes.

Riza Hawkeye was shocked, just shocked, as she clearly saw both Edward and Alphonse reappear - she was holding Roy, and knew something had happened to him - but she couldn’t take her eyes off the scene.

“Ah - those boys will be the death of me!” Izumi said, clutching her stomach. “It hurts…” Was all she said, before she slumped over in Sig’s arms, passed out.

There was one more scream, from right in front of Ling Yao. A heartrending, earth-shaking scream - and suddenly a small body fell to the ground, swearing profusely.

“What the fuck, where the fuck am I, I thought Father fucking killed me, what the hell!” The black-haired man - or rather child - yelled. At first Ling stared, not sure who the child was, but then it clicked.

“GREED?!” The Prince yelled, surprised, and quickly hugged the homunculus. “How?! Why!? I thought - you bastard, I thought you sacrificed yourself!” Ling cried out, tears running down his face.

Greed flinched, and then yelled back “Idiot! I’m Greed, I want the whole world! I’m not about to let something as insignificant as death hold me back from what’s rightfully mine!” Truthfully, though, Greed had no idea why he was alive.

“Look!” Major Armstrong pointed, and everyone looked. Except for one person.

“What-” Mustang asked, head still in his hands.

“It’s Ed and Al!” Riza said, completely and utterly blown away. “I - I don’t know how, but Ed did it! He - they did it Roy, they got their bodies back.”

Roy smiled, and managed to look up, tears still streaming down his face. “I always knew they could do it.” He said, full of pride - and then he stopped. “Wait - Riza?”

“Yes, sir?” Riza asked absently.

“Riza - I can see!” Roy said, very loudly.

“What?” Riza asked, whipping her head around. “Sir, are you sure?!”

“I’m positive I - actually,” Roy paused, looking out at Ed and Al, “I’m suddenly not so sure.”

Riza looked, and gaped. “Sir, do you see a massive Armstrongesque man who is, other than his height, identical to Edward?”

“Pretty much.” Roy nodded.

“Then I think we’ve both gone blind, sir.” Riza said.

“Sir Alphonse!” The little Xingese princess, Mei, yelled, tears streaming down her face, as she attempted to hug him - unfortunately for her, Alphonse was being held in his massive brother’s arms, so she just flopped against Ed’s legs.

“Mei!” Al said, “I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t do that again, Sir Alphonse!” Mei cried from Ed’s feet.

“I won’t!” Al assured her, reaching out his arm to pat Mei on the head. “I’m sorry.” After a moment, he looked into his brother’s eyes. “Ed, was this really necessary?”

“Was what really necessary?” Ed asked, honestly confused. “Bringing you back? Hell yeah! What, did you really think I would leave you there? I’d sooner die! In fact, death would be the only thing that could-”

“No.” Al shook his head, pointing down. “Your height.”

Ed looked obligingly looked down, “Huh.” he said, “I didn’t mean to do this.”

Al looked his brother straight in the eyes. “Bullshit.” He said.

“Really!” Ed defended himself, “All I meant to do was rescue you!”

“Are you sure about that, Fullmetal?” Roy asked, walking forward. Without aid. “Because the moment you walked back, my sight returned to me.”

“I - that’s great!” Ed said, “But I didn’t-”

“Don’t lie!” Screamed Teacher, “You little sneak, what did you sacrifice?!”

“My Gate.” Ed said baldly.

“Your -” Izumi’s eyes widened, and she threw her head back and laughed. “You brilliant little bastard! Only you would think - that’s -” She managed to compose herself, and shook her head, still grinning. “The field of alchemy has just lost one of its greatest minds.” And then she smiled, “You’re officially my greatest success, Edward Elric.”

“Teacher…” Ed said, touched.

And then she threw one of her shoes at him. “Idiot!” She yelled, “That was such a stupid move - not telling anyone what you were doing? I thought you were going to DIE! Giving your life for your brother’s is exactly the kind of dumb shit you’d do!”

“Teacher…” Alphonse shook his head, smiling.

“Thank you, Edward.” Sig said, bowing. “You’ve - Izumi isn’t sick anymore.” He sunk to his knees, “Thank you so much…”

Ed blinked, “What?”

“Ed!” Yelled an oddly familiar child who was being hugged by Ling. “What the hell did you do?!”

Ed looked more closely at the child - and then started laughing. “Shit!” He shook his head, “What the fuck did I do?”

“Really brother?” Al asked, “You brought back the Colonel’s eyesight, you brought Greed BACK TO LIFE, you fixed Teacher’s organs, you made yourself gigantic… but I’m still emaciated?”

Ed shrugged sheepishly, “I have no idea what happened, Al.”

“Boys!” Hohenheim yelled, surging forward, “Al, Ed - thank god.” He shook his head, “I knew what you were going to do Ed, the moment you said it was your last transmutation - but I was still so scared.”

“I didn’t think it would be enough.” Ed confessed, “Because it’s supposed to be equal, and Al’s worth a thousand Gates.”

“No.” Hohenheim shook his head, “It was always going to be an unequal transaction - that’s the point.” He hugged his sons harder, even though Ed had to kneel. “Souls are priceless, each soul is unique, beautiful - and can’t be valued monetarily.” Hohenheim said, “You can’t even trade multiple souls for one soul - it doesn’t work like that. Trading your Gate for Al worked, but it wasn’t because of Equivalent Exchange, it wasn’t about what you were giving up.” Hohenheim pulled back and put his hand over Ed’s heart. “It was about growth - about learning your lesson.” And he smiled, “You learned your lesson, Ed.” Then he turned and ruffled Al’s head, “You too, I hope.”

Al smiled, “I can still use alchemy… and I will… but I won’t use it as a crutch.”

“Good. And I know you won’t either, Ed.” Hohenheim said with finality.

“What are you talking about old man?” Ed asked, “I got rid of my gate, it’s gone. I can’t use alchemy anymore.”

Hohenheim looked at Ed intently, “What exactly did Truth say to you?” He asked, and everyone around them became dead silent.

“...they said that I could take whatever I wanted.” Ed said, “But - they just meant Al, didn't they?”

“No.” Hohenheim said, shaking his head, “If they just meant Al, they would have said Al - Ed, look around you.”

Ed looked, and saw the bastard Mustang smiling wide with working eyes, Ling and baby Greed, Teacher poking her stomach, Sig crying tears of joy… Major Armstrong beaming up at him... because Ed was actually a few inches taller than Armstrong now.

“I did this.” Ed said, eyes wide. “I - it - what?” He asked, confused and surprised, “But - Greed’s dead! You can’t bring back the dead!”

“You can’t.” Hohenheim agreed, “But he was only mostly dead.” He shrugged, “It was like when you put Al’s soul in that suit of armor.”

Ed nodded, “Okay. So Hughes and Nina and all of Ishval aren’t going to suddenly run in… but still, what the hell.”

Hohenheim hadn't stopped smiling, but his smile turned even warmer, "You cracked the code, Ed - as long as you don't forget the truth - the REAL truth - I don't think you'll have any problems with alchemy - unless you really wanted to throw alchemy away?"

"...No." Ed shook his head, "I like alchemy... I wouldn't throw it away for no reason." He hefted Al higher in his arms, "But I'd do it again a thousand times for Al."

“Thank you, brother.” Al said, touched. “But... why didn’t you make me at least a little healthier?”

“I have an answer for that too.” Hohenheim volunteered, “Truth didn’t want you to be.”

“What?” Ed asked, enraged, “That little -”

“No.” Al said, shaking his head. “I think I understand… I need to learn to stand up on my own.”

Ed looked at his brother, and then slowly set him down. “That’s deep.” Ed said, “But I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

Al smiled, looked up at his brother, and then out at the crowd of people. “I know, brother. You always have been.”

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't bring anyone back from the dead, really, but it's as happy as could be - Hohenheim is a normal human now btw, I couldn't work that into the fic, but he's more-or-less 40, so he's got a good 20-60 years left. And yeah, Ed CAN do alchemy still. If you want an explanation, he uses the 'back door' Truth pointed out.
> 
> I just... had this idea in my head and had to get it out.


End file.
